


In The Fall of The Sparrow

by Looley



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Magic, Past Abuse, Political Alliances, Princes & Princesses, Some Fluff, royal au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-26 17:43:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21378016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Looley/pseuds/Looley
Summary: Ever since a tragedy struck his home, the forgotten Prince Ash has only ever wished for revenge, but on a diplomatic embassage, he finds himself drawn to a sheltered prince of the neighboring kingdom, and stumbles upon a dangerous plot that threatens the safety of both lands. Together they must face their fears and uncover the truth, but justice always comes with a price.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji, Lee Yut-Lung/Shorter Wong
Comments: 7
Kudos: 33





	1. Once Upon A Time..

**Author's Note:**

> This a little AU I've wanted to write for a long, long time I hope you like it! While this opening chapter is a bit short, the rest will be much longer.

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom so tall it looked as if it touched the sun. The King lived in an immaculate castle with his lovely Queen, their son the crown prince who was a courageous young hero of many battles; and the youngest prince, the bastard prince, who was only 8 years old was already smarter than any of his tutors. However, beyond the castle walls, the people were wrecked with famine, illness, and grief due to the many brave wars that had befallen their home. Yet, they were ignored, and their anger caused them to surround the palace in protest. The crown prince was a kind man, with a just soul; when he came to meet the crowd he asks their demands, listened to their hearts; and they dispersed with hope. 

  
The next day the prince came into town, along with his vanguard. The people surrounded him, greeting him with thanks, but he said nothing. He walked in a daze, a hand reached for his shoulder, and suddenly his sword had run through one of his own men. The kind prince of Auroryn began to morph into a monster, swinging left and right. It wasn’t until his own general stabbed him in the stomach that the madness finally ended, but it was too late, the streets had turned red with blood.

  
Riots began in every corner of the kingdom, the spark had been lit. As the dawn started to rise, the mob had reached the palace. The staff was slaughtered, the King and Queen were beaten, dragged into the street and hung on the palace gates, and as if it was engulfed by the sun itself, the palace burned to ashes. The youngest prince was kept sheltered inside the palace, no one had ever seen him, therefore no one knew which body was his. It was presumed he burned inside the fire.  
The kingdom was then split amongst the noble houses, the fifth house was quickly absorbed by the small, mysterious neighboring kingdom of Lunaris due to the lord of the house’s death in the revolution. After that, the kingdom of Auroryn began to know peace.

—————— 10 years later ————————

The sky castle of the Lunaris kingdom was famous for the gorgeous dense forests that surrounded it, at the heart of this forest was the first prince’s secret garden. Whenever Eiji felt anxious, or happy, or sad, or really anything at all he would come to tend to the flowers. They drooped towards the ground until struck by the moonlight in which the beautiful blue lilies would raise their heads to the stars. Eiji always felt calm under their warm glow, a sense of calm he desperately needed as guests began arriving tonight.

  
Foreign lords had never stepped foot on Lunarian soil, until today, for the first time in his life Eiji’s home felt, full; full of strangers. Their presence weighed heavily on Eiji’s soul, he felt claustrophobic knowing how many people slept within the castle walls; even in his garden, the air felt burdensome.  
  
“Let’s see,” he spoke to a flower cupped in his hands, ”there’s House Lee, only three of their sons are attending. Ah, I’ve forgotten their names already..”  
He looked pitifully down at the flower which seemed to whisper, _“It’s okay! Keep going!”_.

“House Varishikov, and that Lord, erm, Blanca! And his heir...” his regained confidence then weaned, “The wild lynx.” 

  
Though Eiji had never met him, the young lord of House Varishikov was a renowned swordsman; his name was known by every person across the lands. 

  
“Then there’s Lady Nadia of House Wong,” Eiji had crossed paths with the young lord once, from his tower window he could still see the man’s bizarre purple hair among the crowds.

  
“Lastly there is...there is…”

  
“House Corsica.” a voice answered from behind him, causing the young prince to jump slightly.

  
“Ibe-san! You startled me!”

  
“I was assisting you.”

  
“I almost had it, you didn’t give me enough time to remember.” This was, of course, horseshit, but Eiji hated to seem lacking in front of others.

  
“My apologies Your Highness, would you kindly remind me of the Lord of House Corsica?” Ibe could see a slight blush of embarrassment darken the prince’s face.  
“I am afraid I cannot, only because as a knight you should already know these kinds of things.”

  
“Ah yes, you are correct Your Highness, I wouldn’t want to besmirch my honor.” Ibe then let out a dramatic gasp, “Oh! I remember now, it’s Sir Golzine from House Corsica, how silly of me to forget.”

  
“Indeed,” Eiji smiled for a moment, before looking to the ground, “So why have really come here?”

  
Ibe sighed, “With all the guests that have, or will be arriving tonight Her Majesty feels that it is unwise for you to be alone, even in the gardens; thus she has ordered me to escort you back to your chambers.”

  
Silently, Eiji got up, walking past Ibe to the gate of his little safe haven.

Ibe stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. “She only wishes for your safety.”

Eiji paused for a moment, letting the flower in his palm fall back unto the ground. 

  
“I know,” he said solemnly. 

  
“You are so important to this kingdom-,”

  
“I know.”

  
“Tomorrow, and until everyone is gone you must be careful not to-”

  
“I _know_ Ibe-san,” Eiji straightened himself, raising his head up, ”May we go now?”

  
“Of course, Your Highness.”

  
The pair walked back in quiet, a knot of nervous energy growing tighter and tighter in Eiji’s chest as the harsh light of the palace washed away the cool blue glow of the lilies.

* * *

  
“Ash, if you continue to glare like that your face will be forever stuck in a scowl.”

  
“Wonderful, I hope to be buried with one.”

  
Blanca gave him an exasperated look, “I understand why you are angry but once we cross the threshold into the palace, you will greet everyone with civility.”

  
Ash scoffed, “Civility? You act as if that dumb dog won’t attempt to duel me the second he sees me.”

  
“If I recall, you have provoked Lord Authur into many of your duels,” Blanca said, “If the boy weren’t armed you’d have long since pressed him to death with, _wit_.”

  
“Oh so it’s my fault he’s as dull as a rock with the temperament of spurned bull?”

  
“Ash,” Blanca softened his tone, “I know it’s not Arthur that is making you so agitated.”

  
He clenched his jaw slightly, spitting out a small warning, “Blanca.”

  
“You only have to exchange greetings, then you can ignore him the rest of the time, okay?” There was no response. “Lord Shorter will be there, you can wander around with him, how does that sound?”

  
“I cannot endure that horrid creature, for even a second.” Ash looked away from Blanca, his scowl replaced by a blank stare.

  
“It will be hard, but you must play your role.”

  
“I know.”

  
“Do not forget why we’re here, for the sake of your plans-”

  
“I _know_, Blanca,” Ash saw the large obsidian doors of the sky castle come into view, as their carriage slowed.

  
Attendants rushed out, readying themselves to handle the three loads of luggage in the wagons that followed behind. Ash plastered on his most charming look, pushing his anger, and his anxiety deep into himself, fingers clutching the hilt of his sword only a hair too tightly. He smiled at Blanca as the carriage doors opened. 

  
“Presenting Lord Blanca Varishikov of House Varishikov, the Master of Blades, Hero of Auroryn. And his nephew Lord Ash Lynx, the Dawn-Bringer. Welcome to Lunaris!”  
  
As he crossed the threshold of the palace, Ash steadied himself for a number of things, but he never would have imagined the fate he unknowingly set off the moment his foot touched those marble steps.


	2. Sparrows and Crows

_ The first thing Eiji noticed was the smoke, it filled the forest’s ceiling so thickly that he couldn’t find the sky. The few branches that were low enough to be seen were beginning to catch; embers rising just to disappear. _

  
_ A sense of urgency came over his body, as his back grew hotter; he willed his legs to go faster. Wading tirelessly through the gray sea, every step was greeted with a hacking cough ripped from his lungs._

  
_ The heat drew closer, but dare not look back. He could barely make out a small pool in between two burning willows; he sped up to reach it._   
_The world fell forward, flames licked up his leg, the root that had held became ash. _

  
_He screamed._

  
_The smell of burnt flesh mingled with the smoke and his coughs grew more ferocious and he dragged his body into the pool._   
_ At once, a sense of calm overcame him, the pain in his body disappeared and he submerged himself under the water, watching the flames fly over, then past him. A single blue lily was glowing, unburnt, at the pool’s edge dipping into view. _

  
_ Eiji didn’t realize how far he had gone into the pool, no matter how hard he swam upwards he was still so far from the surface. His movements became stronger, more determined yet he couldn’t reach. _

  
_ He felt something move below him. He could see nothing._

  
_But he felt it, some invisible darkness that made the heart beat faster, and he frantically began to swim upwards. Just as his breath was running out, he broke the surface, clutching the flower he gasped for air._

  
_ Then the feeling grabbed his waist and pulled him under, the water was pitch black only the blue lily in his hand shone, illuminating the flecks of blood in the water. He couldn’t hold his mouth shut with the force he was being dragged, his lungs were too full, everything burned as if he’d consumed fire._   
_His choking breaths underwater released petals, a trail of blue petals highlighted his plunge. _

  
_ Then it all went black._

Eiji jumped up from his bed and ran towards his bathroom, coughing up inky black water into a large basin. The water sloshed dangerously in his shaky hands as he stared at it, of all the side effects to dreaming these were the kinds he loathed. 

_At least the room didn’t catch on fire_. He thought with a weak smile. The stone floor was cold and biting against his bare hands, the chill inserting itself into his bones. It took him some time, but Eiji finally mustered the strength to stand again; the adrenaline had vanished and tiredness overtook him.

_The rug is strangely soft, did mother replace it recently? It’s normally... coarser. _

Staring at his feet, there was no rug, only thousands upon thousands of little blue lily petals, glowing dimly beneath him. There had not been an incident like this since he was ten years old, oh god he prayed the petals were at least contained to his room. Ibe was going to freak out, and if Ibe freaked out then, then the Queen would freak out.

  
Eiji dropped to his knees and began to shove fistfuls of petals underneath his bed, into a large trunk, his wardrobe, inside every jar or vase or drawer he could find. 

Sleep was off the table for the night. 

There was no one directly outside his door, they would have heard the chaos and promptly come to check on him. However, Eiji wasn’t a fool, if they weren’t stationed right before his door then at least half the army would be greeting him at the end of the hall. Not to mention the strangers who were undoubtedly roaming about.

As quietly as he possibly could Eiji managed to scoot his wardrobe a little ways from the wall. To any normal person, it was simply a very fine paper wall, but Eiji was a prince who knew that know castle was really a castle if it didn’t have its secret doors. He pressed his hand against one of the wood beams, revealing a dark staircase; grabbing a candle he set off into the night.

* * *

  
“And then I told him that dueling two persons so stupid was unfair, and that - Shorter? Hey, are you listening to me?”

“Mm-hmm.” Shorter, was in fact, not listening. He was staring dreamily into some plane beyond reality, a good dribble of wine at his feet, from where his hands had gone loose around his cup.

“I understand that my hair is not as long as House Lee’s little dancer, but I still think I’m quite attractive enough to hold your attention,” Ash said with a dramatic huff of offense.

Having so easily been seen through Shorter’s dribble became a puddle as he jerked back to reality; the drunken red glow to his face burning a little brighter.

“I have no idea who you are speaking of.” It was intended to be a serious statement, but the drunken slur that Shorter spoke with really hurt his credibility.

“Really? Well, he certainly knows you,” Ash took a deep sip of wine, watching Shorter’s curiosity versus his pride battle across his face, “I mean your gaze follows him like a plague.”

“I don’t stare so intensely.”

“Ah, but you admit you stare?”

“I-”

“Not to mention how angry you look when you stare,” Ash laughed, “He’s probably wondering to himself right now, just what he did to offend you so.”

“Oh, shut up,” he replied with a huff, pouting into his half-empty goblet, as Ash’s laughs rang throughout the tavern, “Do I really look angry?”

“Sometimes it’s more like you’re constipated. Is that better?”

“Fuck you.”

“But I’m not even a good dancer.”

Shorter threw a smattering on coins on the table and left with his shoulder dropped in a sulk. Ash gleefully scooped up the money, which of course there was enough extra for him to call for another round for himself. No matter how ‘fancy’ all the wines at the castle were, his time in the streets had given him a taste for the cheaper things.

“That’s quite a lot of wine there, I’d be more careful else you might be sleeping outside the tavern door tonight.” said a scruffy looking man with a light voice.

Ash didn’t trust older men in the nicest of settings, but certainly not ones in a run-down tavern who reek of booze. Though this one had semi-nice clothes, and therefore a coin pouch Ash could steal. In fact, the coin purse was loosely at the man’s side and was just the right size to make up for the allowance Ash had blown from Blanca.

“I don’t suppose you know of a nicer place I can sleep, do you?” he said peering from under his lashes.

“If you’d-” the man hiccuped, “foller’ me.” Ash was surprised the man could lead the way without falling, he swayed back n’ forth like he was on a boat.

The man babbled nonsensically for until they reached a rather secluded area of town before he darted quickly into an alley tugging Ash’s arm. The man turned around, all his drunken demeanor removed, staring calmly with the point of Ash’s sword at his neck.

“I apologize for grabbing you but this is important, Sir Lynx.”

“If you knew my name, I would have thought you were smarter than to act in such a way.”

“Listen, I need you to deliver a message.”

“Maybe you should’ve hired an errand boy.”

“I’m trying to, I need one that’s a little tougher,” he said holding up the coin purse and tossing it. Ash caught it without blinking an eye.

“The Queen’s advisor, Ibe, do you know who he is?”

“I have seen him,” Ash replied.

“Good. I need you to tell him to take the royal family and leave, before the ball,” the man’s stare was burning with intensity, “You got that? Tell him Max sent you.”

“What’s going to happen, should I be leaving.”

“No, and I can’t tell you.”

“If it’s so important why would you tell me? Why not someone from the castle? How are you even sure I’m gonna deliver your little message, huh?” Ash scoffed.

“Cause you’re a good kid Aslan.”

He froze. When he blinked the man was gone, but his words kept echoing inside his head.

  
_“Shall I read you a story, Aslan?”_

  
There was no one left alive who would say that name to him. He ran out of the alley, down the street, then he turned and ran back to the tavern. Nothing.

He opened the coin purse, hoping to find a surname engraved, but a small piece of parchment fell out. Ash unfurled it. 

**_Drunkards aren’t allowed in the palace after 12, go through the gardens._**

How did he know that? He could tell Ash that but not his name!? Stupid old man. _The gardens are fucking huge how am I supposed to get back before daylight…_

The gardens turned out to not even just be gardens, Ash found himself stumbling through a giant forest maze. One moment he was happily walking by a rose bush towards the castle, the nest he couldn’t even see the castle through the thick fucking branches.

It was dark, he kept his hand attached to the sword at his hip, just in case. He tried not to trip squinting down as he put one foot in front of the other. Suddenly he could actually see his own shoe and began to praise himself fro being blessed by the heaven’s with incredible eyesight; until he looked up and saw the glowing blue flowers that lit his way. He must be getting closer. The silver gate was already ajar, he pushed it with a squeak and quietly walked in the garden.

Until Ash came upon a black-haired boy whose eyes went wide and was opening his mouth to-

  
“Please don’t scream.”

The boy closed his mouth.

“Listen, I knew they’d lock me out if I came back from the taverns, I wasn’t sure where to go, I apologize for imposing I’m just lost-”

“I know you.”

* * *

The voice that came out of Eiji didn’t feel like his own, he just blurted without thinking.

“I mean um, I know your sword; you’re the dawn-bringer,” Eiji added, hoping he hadn’t just embarrassed himself in front of the greatest young knight alive.

“Just Ash is fine really, Sir...”

“Oh, I’m Eiji.” he then stood up a little straighter, trying to look tougher as Ibe had often asked him to with a sigh, “I am Eiji Okumura.”

This time Ash’s eyes grew wide, he fell to one knee, bowing his head, “Your Highness, my sincerest apologies I had no idea, I humbly beseech your kindness to pardon me from trespassing on your night.”

Eiji was panicking. The people he was around daily normally didn’t address him so highly, they were also not insanely talented and handsome knights that Eiji admired a lot. He rushed forward, 

“It’s really, really okay. I’m not even supposed to be out here,” he didn’t mean to say that, “I can show you a way back into the castle, it’s really okay.”

Ash stood, but bowed again slightly, “Whenever you are ready, please lead on.”

Eiji really couldn’t stop himself, for the second time tonight he blurted out, 

“Is your sword real?”

“What do you mean Your Highness?”

“Oh, nothing. I just, I’ve never held a sword before, so I was curious.”

Ash drew it from his scabbard, “See, it is real.”

  
“Can I hold it?”

Ash felt a strangeness in himself, without hesitating he handed it to the Prince. Instead of feeling on edge, as he normally would weaponless; a bubble of warmth came from inside him. Ash never did think one could so innocently view a sword as the boy in front of him did. Then Eiji almost dropped said sword onto his leg, and Ash promptly took it back.

“We can go back now, thank you.”

Eiji started forward, silently Ash to a hand across to stop him, pressing a finger to his lips. Something was wrong, Ash had been distracted but now he felt it, a sense of darkness in the wind. He scanned the area, it was only two petals; moving forward away from the faint breeze’s direction, a barely noticeable breath. He jabbed towards it and drew back blood or well ink. The creature in the bushes let out a cry, and Ash watched it twist from a man into a crow; it took lopsided into the air with it’s torn wing.

Staring towards the pale-faced prince, he sheathed his sword, 

“Let’s hurry now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this wasn't too short, thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Though I have this story planned out, updates will be slow due to college, but I will try my best to post each month.


End file.
